The Waldos, joint-blazing San Rafael originators of term...

1of23The 420 flag, pictured here, was made by a friend of the Waldos named Patty Young in the 1970s. The phrase "EYOT" at the top was mostly meaningless, but it became used as a substitute for 'It’s all too weird and funny!'"

2of23Some of the Waldos today, filming a video project to be released in the near future.

3of23Some of the Waldos visiting the Met museum.

4of23The term 420 has become synonymous with weed culture and the marijuana industry. Here, Jennifer Morton of My 420 Tours talks with job seekers at CannaSearch, a job fair in Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

5of23Here, a marijuana user wears a "420" shirt and smokes marijuana during a 420 Day celebration on 'Hippie Hill' in Golden Gate Park April 20, 2010 in San Francisco, California. April 20th has become a de facto holiday for marijuana advocates, with large gatherings and 'smoke outs' in many parts of the United States.

6of23Here, a smoker lights up a joint as thousands gathered to celebrate the state's medicinal marijuana laws and collectively light up at 4:20 p.m. in Civic Center Park April 20, 2012 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Marc Piscotty/Getty Images)

7of23The date called for a big celebration and some of the smoking materials were large too. The annual four twenty celebration of marijuana smoking was attended by thousands near Hippie Hill in Golden Gate Park.Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

8of23There was a good variety of foods available for the celebrants. The annual four twenty celebration of marijuana smoking was attended by thousands near Hippie Hill in Golden Gate Park.Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

9of23Gia from San Rafael, Calif. got into a 60s dress code to celebrate the day. The annual four twenty celebration of marijuana smoking was attended by thousands near Hippie Hill in Golden Gate Park.Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

10of23Police made their way through the crowd to help clear way for a fire truck entering the celebration. The annual four twenty celebration of marijuana smoking was attended by thousands near Hippie Hill in Golden Gate Park.Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

11of23A fire engine entering the celebration was greeted as it drove down the path in the park. The annual four twenty celebration of marijuana smoking was attended by thousands near Hippie Hill in Golden Gate Park.Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

12of23The air over Hippie Hill hung heavy with smoke as the moment arrived. The annual four twenty celebration of marijuana smoking was attended by thousands near Hippie Hill in Golden Gate Park.Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

13of23People gathered in the meadow on an overcast afternoon. The annual four twenty celebration of marijuana smoking was attended by thousands near Hippie Hill in Golden Gate Park.Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

14of23People made their way up Hippie Hill, some sat and some stood and took in the aroma. The annual four twenty celebration of marijuana smoking was attended by thousands near Hippie Hill in Golden Gate Park.Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

15of23At the appointed hour it was wall to wall people in the meadow. The annual four twenty celebration of marijuana smoking was attended by thousands near Hippie Hill in Golden Gate Park.Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

16of23First, a tip of the hat to the big, surprising, mega-marijuana event in Seattle (the world): Hempfest.
Pictured: Rainy Collins holds up a sign during Seattle's Hempfest pro marijuana gathering at Myrtle Edwards Park on the Seattle waterfront on Friday, August 17, 2012.

17of23John "The Freak" takes smoke on a cigar-sized marijuana blunt, after the Cannabis Freedom March, which started from Volunteer Park, made its way to a rally Westlake Park in Seattle, on Saturday, May 11, 2013. (AP Photo/The Seattle Times, Marcus Yam) SEATTLE OUT, USA TODAY OUT, MAGAZINES OUT, NO SALES. MANDATORY CREDIT.Photo: Marcus Yam, Associated Press

18of23Members of a crowd numbering tens of thousands smoke marijuana and listen to live music, at the Denver 420 pro-marijuana rally at Civic Center Park in Denver on Saturday, April 20, 2013. Even before the passage in November 2012 of Colorado Amendment 64 promised the legalization of marijuana for recreational use, April 20th has for years been a celebration of marijuana counterculture, and the 2013 Denver rally draw larger crowds than previous years. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)Photo: Brennan Linsley, Associated Press

19of23Members of a crowd numbering tens of thousands smoke marijuana and listen to live music, at the Denver 420 pro-marijuana rally at Civic Center Park in Denver on Saturday, April 20, 2013. Even before the passage in November 2012 of Colorado Amendment 64 promised the legalization of marijuana for recreational use, April 20th has for years been a celebration of marijuana counterculture, and the 2013 Denver rally draw larger crowds than previous years. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)Photo: Brennan Linsley, Associated Press

20of23DENVER, CO - APRIL 20: Fast Eddy Aki'a of Hawaii smokes a joint as thousands gathered to celebrate the state's medicinal marijuana laws and collectively light up at 4:20 p.m. in Civic Center Park April 20, 2012 in Denver, Colorado. Colorado goes to the polls November 6 to vote on a controversial ballot initiative that would permit possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for those 21 and older. (Photo by Marc Piscotty/Getty Images) *** BESTPIX ***Photo: Marc Piscotty, Getty Images

21of23A street preacher has marijuana smoke puffed in his face as he confronts marijuana smokers at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Tuesday, April 20, 2010. Marijuana legalization advocates lit up across the country during the annual observance of 4/20, the celebration-cum-mass civil disobedience derived from "420" - insider shorthand for cannabis consumption.Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, AP

22of23An unidentified man smokes a marijuana cigarette outside of the Duane Physics building during the 4/20 rally on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder, Colo., on Friday, April 20, 2012. Many students at the University of Colorado and other campuses across the country have long observed 4/20. The counterculture observation is shared by marijuana users from San Francisco's Golden Gate Park to New York's Greenwich Village. (AP Photo/The Daily Camera, Jeremy Papasso)Photo: Jeremy Papasso, Associated Press

23of23Over the last few decades, the tern "420" has become synonymous with marijuana. That term, as it turned out, was likely coined by a group of five San Rafael high schoolers in the 1970s, who called themselves The Waldos.

In the 1970s, it was a treacherous task for high schoolers to obtain marijuana.

"Back then we spent every day of our lives worrying about getting busted. Going to buy was a really secret thing," Steve Capper says. That was paranoia, but it also made for an energy-charged brotherhood of outlaws, avoiding the law."

Capper, a man who now works in the financial services industry in San Francisco, was once one-fifth of a group calling themselves the Waldos, a coterie of companions at San Rafael High School generally considered to be behind the term "420."

While many believe that the famous phrase 420 was associated with some sort of police code for marijuana, that's not the case. Actually, it began as a secret language mumbled in school hallways to communicate a post-class smoke session, and since then, it has taken on the form of a bona fide national phenomenon.

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However, as the guys remember it, almost 50 years ago when the term was born, it was just a friendly pastime with friends; a reference to after-school trips during which they'd sometimes seek a mythical treasure trove of marijuana mysteriously up for the taking somewhere in Point Reyes.

This is where most people stop believing the story. But as it goes, forty-five years ago, the Waldos were given a treasure map. Fantastic and preposterous as it may seem, the Waldos have always contended that the brothers that passed it over to them promised with it a stoner's paradise where the "X" marked the spot: a free crop of marijuana, primed for the taking.

For the next few weeks, the Waldos would catch each other's eyes in the hallways, uttering simply "420 Louis." It was a secret code, an invitation to meet at 4:20 p.m. after their sports practices, at the statue of Louis Pasteur in front of the school. Then, the "safari" would begin: They'd take off in a '66 Chevy Impala towards the Point Reyes Coast Guard Station in search of the secret stash.

The grower of the weed, it turned out, was a coast guardsman named Gary Newman, stationed on the peninsula. He was the brother-in-law to the Waldos' buds who first delivered them the sacred map. Newman and some other friends had planted the weed for personal use, but they soon began to grow suspicious that their overseeing officers might bust them. So, to get rid of the evidence, Newman made a map for those interested to come harvest.

The Waldos never found the marijuana, and eventually they reluctantly pushed the mystery aside, but the phrase 420 stuck, just like the name Waldos — a reference to the wall where they met between classes.

"We'd hang out there, make fun of people going by, doing imitations and joking around, and that was kind of our hang out," fellow Waldo and current independent filmmaker Dave Reddix tells SFGATE. "So we just started calling each other Waldos."

The phrase 420, meanwhile, was just another "little joke," as Reddix says.

But if it was a joke, it was one that everyone else soon learned, including some members of the Grateful Dead, as well as band mates in Phil Lesh's side projects, Too Loose Ta Truck and Sea Stones.

While Reddix isn't sure that Lesh or other musicians like David Crosby first heard 420 from his own mouth or from his brother's (who managed a couple of Lesh's other bands), it's possible. After all, the Waldos tended to hang out backstage at many of the Dead's shows. The father of another "Waldo" named Mark, who today often works as a photographer and renovator in the real estate sector, helped the Dead find the band space for rehearsals and shows, making sure to add the Waldos to pertinent guest lists.

"For a young man around 18 or 19 around these guys, it was pretty overwhelmingly fun," Reddix remembers. "We'd shoot some hoops and get high and listen to the Dead playing and practicing inside this warehouse."

And though the Waldos never knew for sure where the Dead picked up the phrase, the bigger mystery was always the answer to the map.

Until 2016.

After a six year hunt beginning in 2010, "hundreds" of unanswered cold calls, and the hiring of a private investigator, they finally found Newman. Though homeless in the San Jose area, he agreed to meet them, 45 years after he penned the legendary treasure map.

When they finally met, it was Super Bowl weekend. The Waldos were able to put him up in lodging for a couple days while they interviewed him about the map.

But of the revelations and stories exchanged (which you can read about more in-depth here), one of the most memorable moments came when Capper went to pay the bill. "I go to the motel owner, and ask how much is [the room]," he recalls. "He says including tax, it's exactly $420 dollars."

And now, almost 50 years after the Waldos were first handed the map, 420 has a life of its own, far beyond San Rafael. It permeates many areas of pop culture, including music, TV shows, government bills, Craigslist ads — and even beer labels.

Lagunitas Brewing in Petaluma, for example, has for years crafted a "Waldos" triple IPA in its namesake's honor. Brewers have in the past asked some Waldos to select hops for the beer based on which they believe smells the most like marijuana. The Untappd app has even developed a special game attached to the Lagunitas beer's check-in.

"[The Waldos'] legacy lives on and we just get to participate in it on a slightly different level than before," Lagunitas spokesperson Karen Hamilton tells SFGATE. "Who would have guessed that a few short years after making Waldos' Special Ale for the first time, there would be states that have legalized marijuana and an entirely new shift in attitudes and thinking about it all across the country?"

But though the brewery uses "420" for a light-hearted specialty beer, there are some people that take the term very seriously. Mentioning that they've heard of at least one Ph.D. candidate who has based studies on the etymology and spread of the word, they note that some people have built careers using the word.

For most people though, the word's usage is just recreational. "It's humorous, it's amusing," Capper says. "For a large part of people, it's just fun."

In 2017, in the days leading up to April 20, two of the Waldos, Reddix and Capper, appeared on Kevin Klein Live, a former morning show on Alt 105, to retell the origin story of 420.

"(The term 420) was never purposeful or contrived," they told Klein. "It happened organically on its own."

And now that marijuana inches closer to legalization in the state of California and the term 420 "gets bigger every year," as the host mentions, the Waldos are beginning to warm up to the idea of public visibility. Saying the term "spread all over the globe," the former San Rafael students note that 420 was just one of their many "codes" at school.

"420 was the tip of the iceberg," they add. "We have about 130 other codes that were private jokes for all kinds of things and maybe as we move down the road, maybe get more commercial opportunities, we'll release some of that so the world sees this huge backstory."

A Bay Area native, Alyssa Pereira grew up in Concord and graduated from San Francisco State University. She completed her masters at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, majoring in Performance Studies with concentrations on music, pop culture, and social media. She now lives in San Francisco.

She got her start in writing while working in-house at SPIN Magazine in New York, and has since contributed to publications as varied as PAPER, Time Out, Consequence of Sound, 7x7, Radio.com, The Bay Bridged and the Latin American Music Journal. She has presented academic papers at Indiana University and the Université de Strasbourg in France on topics related to the intersection of music and politics.

She comes to SFGATE and the San Francisco Chronicle from CBS San Francisco, where she wrote about pop culture, music, beer, and local news.